Skoda Automobile and Czech Paradise

On Wednesday May 20, the group made their first excursion to the Skoda Car Factory and also to Prachovske skaly (Czech Paradise).

Skoda Automobile is a car manufacturer in the Czech Republic. Skoda dates back to around the 1890s where, like many well-established car manufactures, started manufacturing bicycles. Vaclav Klement, who was a bookseller by trade in Mlada Boleslav, in today's Czech Republic, which was then part of Austria-Hungary, was unable to obtain the right spare parts to repair his German bicycle. Klement returned his bicycle to the manufacturers, Seidel and Naumann, with a letter, in Czech, asking for them to carry out repairs, only to receive a reply, in German, stating: "If you would like an answer to your inquiry, you should try writing in a language we can understand". A disgusted Klement, despite not having any previous technical experience, then decided to start his own bicycle repair shop, which he and Vaclav Laurin opened in 1895 in Mlada Boleslav. Before going into business partnership with Klement, Laurin was an already established bicycle manufacturer from the nearby town of Turnov. (wikipedia.com) Skoda's history from here is very complex and a much more detailed history can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0koda_Auto Skoda became a subsidiary of the Volkswagen group in 1991 and car sales reached 674,530 in 2008.

The group was able to experience some typical Czech cuisine at Skoda that is actually prepared right there in Skoda's Museum.

From Skoda the group went to Prachovske skaly (Czech Paradise). Czech Paradise are sand rock formations. It is a great place to go hiking and see the outdoors. Some of the terrain can be very steep and rocky, but the views that are seen here are very pretty. Hiking up to the top of the rock formations and the tops of the large hills allowed the group to see for miles at the Czech landscape.